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Keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks to a group during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Donald Trump’s 2016 victory is proof that even a deep-blue state like California can be won by Republicans, former Trump White House adviser Sebastian Gorka told a gathering of conservatives Sunday, April 8 in Riverside.

“I am here to tell you, it’s possible, even in California,” Gorka said to cheers and applause as the keynote speaker at the Fifth Annual Unite Inland Empire Conservative Conference. “All the rules have been broken. Donald Trump took the rulebook of the elite and shredded it, burned it and then jumped up and down on it.”

“ … (The polls) were all wrong. We can take California back.”

Former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka walks to the stage as the keynote speaker during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks to a group during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Guest who paid the VIP admission give a standing ovation for former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

People arrive to attend the Unite IE Conservative Conference at the Riverside Convention Center on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A cut out of President Donald Trip sits in the lobby of the Riverside Convention Center as guest arrive to attend the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, in Riverside. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks to a group during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A woman applauds Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, as he speaks during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks to a group during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A women dressed in red, white, and blue, eats her dessert as keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

People raise their hands after keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, walks off the stage during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Anti-Trump protesters gather across the street as Trump supporters stand in front of the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A Trump supporter holds up his “Make America Great Again” hat in front of the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Trump supporters shout at anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Trump supporters shout at anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Anti-Trump protesters stand across the street where Trump supporters gathered outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Trump supporters shout at anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Katy Hopkins, middle, a media personality, exchanges words with anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

An anti-Trump protester points to a button she wears on her hat that reads ” Not my president” outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Katy Hopkins, right, a media personality, exchanges words with anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

A group of Trump supporters clash with anti-Trump protesters outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

State Assemblyman Travis Allen, who is running for California Governor, gives a thumbs up to his supporters at the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

State Assemblyman Travis Allen, who is running for California Governor, addresses his supporters who gathered outside the Riverside Convention Center where the Unite IE Conservative Conference was held on Sunday, April 8, 2018. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Businessman John Cox, who is running for California governor, speaks during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Businessman John Cox, who is running for California governor, speaks during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Keynote speaker Sebastian Gorka, former White House adviser, speaks to a group during the Unite IE Conservative Conference on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Riverside Convention Center. (Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

That means working to make the November midterm elections as big a victory for Trump and conservatives as 2016 was, said Gorka, who worked as a deputy assistant in the White House from January to August 2017.

“I know as sure as anything that Nov. 8, 2016 is proof that God exists,” he said. “But we cannot let that opportunity slide us by. America won, but we need to win again in the midterms.”

In trying to convince your fellow voters, “don’t get preachy,” Gorka said. “Don’t get on a soapbox. Just tell the truth.”

The president, Gorka said, is the same in private as he is in public. Trump is “decisive (and) a man who knows what he wants and he gets it,” he said.

Gorka also attacked “the fake news industrial complex” for writing “obscene” lies about Trump. The president didn’t take the job for the money or to be famous, but he wants “every American in this country to be safe and to prosper,” Gorka said. “That’s it.”

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Critics have attacked Gorka’s academic credentials and his views on Islamic extremism; he supported Trump’s ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. He’s also been accused of belonging to a far-right Hungarian group, which he denies.

Gorka said he resigned from the White House due to “forces” that don’t support the president’s agenda. The New York Times quoted two unnamed Trump administration officials as saying Gorka was forced out.

At least 820 tickets were sold for this year’s Unite Inland Empire Conservative Conferencec, an annual chance for inspiration and networking for Southern California conservatives.

Vendors selling “Make America Great Again” hats and promoting Republican candidates and conservative causes occupied tables outside the main convention room. One table offered passers-by the chance to get their picture taken with a Trump cutout.

Inside, speakers talked about how Trump’s win offers hope for conservative candidates in a state dominated politically by Democrats.

“Trump has shown us the way forward,” said Sean Flynn, a Republican running against Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands. “The rest of the nation is a sea of red.”

Republican candidates for governor Travis Allen and John Cox were on hand to make their case for being the GOP standard-bearer in a presumed November matchup with Democrat and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“I am going to make the Democrats own the mess they made of this state,” Cox said.

“In 2016, we took back our country,” Allen said. “In 2018, we take back our state!”

Outside the convention center’s main entrance, sign-waving Allen supporters got into a bullhorn-aided shouting match with anti-Trump protesters as the groups stood on opposite sides of Fifth Street.

“No Trump! No KKK! No fascist U.S.A.!” were among the chants from the anti-Trump group, several of whom wore the outfits of the pro-Chicano group Brown Berets. At one point, Allen supporters shouted “Americans First!” and sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

The exchange was heated but nonviolent. Katie Hopkins, a conference speaker and British media personality known for her hard-line – critics say bigoted – views on subjects such as refugees and Muslim immigrants, walked among the Trump protesters and appeared to argue with some of them as she stood in front of an anti-Trump banner.

Afterward, Hopkins said the message she wanted to share with conference-goers was: “You don’t want to become like the U.K. Do not let yourselves fall in the way that my country has fallen … be aware of what life is like under Democrat control.”

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.